After The Party
by Blue Dragon Ferry
Summary: implied Musica x Reina, Haru x Elie - M for sexual content. Elie's had an argument with Haru, and now the Rave Master is nowhere to be found. A party, large quantities of alcohol and kind of a weird accident end Elie and Musica up in bed together.


A/N: I'm not through with reading "Rave Master" so there might still be mistakes concerning the background plot in here.

Rating: M for sexual content. Musica x Elie. Musica struggles with inner conflicts, beware of the drama.

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Rave Master. I own nothing.

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><p>He had to admit, he had no real clue how it had come to this. Somehow, it had started with an angry Elie in the lounge of the hotel they were staying in on their search for the last Rave stone; and then, word after word, heartbeat after heartbeat, everything seemed to have accumulated, until they were where they were – in his bed in this damn hotel.<p>

He could feel her underneath him; could hear her heavy breaths; could feel her small, cold hands roaming his bare chest, causing his muscles to jump almost painfully. He didn't know how it had come to this. He didn't want to know. There, underneath him, was another warm, breathing body. This was enough… wasn't it?

No. It was never enough. He could caress her hair, could stroke her skin all he liked; it was never enough, because she didn't… wasn't…

His muscles contracted once more as her hands moved southward without a warning, and he moved a little towards the other end of the bed. He didn't _want_ her to. She didn't have the right to… to…

_what?_

She moved underneath him, looking up with what seemed to be almost a pout. Damn. He couldn't get lost in his thoughts. He simply couldn't.

Once more, hands roamed flesh. Bare palms connected with flawless skin on her cheeks, then her neck. He breathed down the nape, causing her to shiver and press up against him.

… _like a slut…_

"More," she begged, silently clutching at his back, scratching pink lines into the muscles and scar tissue. "It's not enough…"

Not enough… too true, he never was enough… not enough to save his friends, and not enough, not courageous enough to stay with those he loved…

"Please… go on…"

He'd never imagined her to be someone to whimper… if he'd imagined her this way at all… A sigh, long and shuddering, down her nape, and once more she was fully pressed against him, returning that ache his body was struggling with… Her hands gripped his back tighter, and he closed his eyes for a moment, welcoming the slight pain from her fingernails. Why, why did it feel like he was doing this more from obligation than for pleasure? Why did it feel like what they were doing was irreversible, something he'd regret for the rest of his life? Why, when what they were doing was supposed to feel good, did he feel like he was destroying something?

"More…" A small moan as his hands silently began to drift southwards again, taking time to caress her neck, pressing a finger to the pulsing artery that told him she was alive, told of it even more obviously than her shallow pants and barely suppressed moans and squirms…

… _he felt like a slut…_

He was caressing her breasts, experimentally licking over her collarbone and straightening a little when she squirmed harder as he passed his thumb over her nipple, again and again. Her breaths turned even shallower. A slight sheen of sweat had built on her skin, salty and sweet, leaving a bitter tang on his tongue, or was it the alcohol from before?

He moved his arm and the other hand to treat her other breast the same, and as he tweaked her second nipple, her back nearly arched off the mattress. He found the humour to chuckle.

"More… please…"

… _they'd been in that very same place for a while back then, moving the party upstairs after Elie had nearly damaged the whole lounge with her guns. He still wondered why, but after seeing a fuming Rave Master slam the front door and Elie still hysterical, he assumed something had gone wrong with Haru._

_Something he had missed had been building up inside her; he was sure now. She'd run around with a slightly sour face all day (it was the primary cause for them all to set up a party that evening), and for her to explode at Haru and later break down… hell, even Shuda had remarked she seemed scary these days, and he was pretty sure Sieg had known all along what was wrong (after all, what the heck didn't this guy know?) _

_He still wasn't so sure what was going on with her. From her muffled words later on when her eyes became wider and slightly unfocused under the influence of the alcohol, he could only think of what was up – that she felt like everybody was peeping at her, but never really daring to make a move, much less love her…_

_So just what the hell was he doing?_

He shushed her by pressing a finger to her mouth, not wanting to hear his name tumble off those luscious lips, those lips that had no right to form the syllables.

"Shhh… it's okay…"

Down her sides, her flat belly, dipping into her bellybutton. She laughed, breathlessly, and once more he shushed her by pressing a warning finger to her mouth. She grinned devilishly, taking his finger into her mouth and sucking on it. He watched for a moment, mesmerized by the view, but quickly pulled his finger from her mouth, trailing it down between her breasts and over her stomach again. It left a trace of saliva in its wake.

He sat up, caressing her knees, then her thighs. She squirmed again as he reached the skin of her inner thighs, her head rolling backwards as he trailed his fingertips higher. Slowly. Slowly. He knew how to pleasure women, he'd done it often enough, but never like this, never…

His hand reached the junction of her thighs, and he almost pulled back as he felt her fluids already flowing freely, coating his fingers. This could get him into problems…

Without looking down, she grabbed his hand, moving it so he was once more cupping her, hard. He pushed a single finger through her folds, flicking the small, sensitive bundle of nerves above her entrance. She cried out breathlessly, arching her back once more, her hips coming right off the mattress.

He could make her come fast with this, he realized. Very fast, indeed. Not good if he wanted to drag this out… give her the pleasure she deserved, and drag out his own torture… torture for… for…

He paused abruptly as a new sound reached his ears beside her pants and his own heartbeat which was louder than normally, as if warning.

No… it was just rain, pounding against the walls, beginning to drum against the windows with a hundred tiny fingers, begging for entrance.

She wiggled her hips, apparently trying to tell him to go on. He didn't normally have to force himself to smirk, but it was becoming quite hard right now, and he felt himself rather grimacing… hopefully she hadn't taken that as an offense. It had nothing to do with her, just rather with _who she was not_, and neither she nor he could do anything about that.

He pushed a single finger into her entrance, for a moment amazed at how her slick heat seemed to swallow it whole, before he wiggled his finger slightly and felt how tight she really was. And already upon adding a second finger, she squirmed slightly, and at the third her face contorted in a moment of pain.

It only confirmed to him what had been rather obvious. There was no barrier of skin or whatever those porn books talked about, but then again it was pretty well-known that women usually tore their hymen during hard physical work or combat… and that, she'd sure as hell had enough. He pulled out his fingers, looking at her fluids on his skin. There was no way he was going that far with her. Let her experience climax, alright, but that… no fucking way. He shook his head at his own pun.

"What are you –"

"Shhh." Once more, his fingers trailed up her thigh, this time heading straight for her clitoris, and she gave another breathless cry as he thumbed the sensitive knot. It would have helped to fuel his desire… under normal circumstances.

Placing the other hand on her stomach, he could almost feel the raw desire coil in her, tighter and tighter, her muscles tensing and twisting under his fingers, until it –

broke.

Her body nearly arched off the bed, twisting in mad convulsions, the subtle muscles of her stomach rippling under her skin. Her head rolled backwards, her eyes screwed tight, and she fisted at the covers. He pulled his finger from her folds, satisfied with what he'd done. It wasn't longer than a moment or two before she opened her eyes and looked into his.

"Wow," she said, dreamily, breathlessly, pulling him down until he almost lay upon her. His weight rested uncomfortably on his forearms; her chest was fully touching his, and his length was rubbing somewhere against the skin of her thigh.

The ache suddenly blazed higher, and he found himself screwing his eyes shut for a moment to fight that unbearable tightness in his chest, disabling him to breathe.

"What's wrong?"

He felt a hand threading through his hair, smoothing over his brow, taking time to feel the skin around each of his piercings. He sighed, grabbing her hand and holding it down, one of his hands caressing her neck again while his head hung down to rest between her breasts. His arm muscles cramped, and with a sigh, he lifted himself up, trying to find a more comfortable position.

"Hey, what are you –"

He held a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet. She didn't really listen.

"– up to?" She grabbed his sides once more, trying to pull him down, but he resisted.

"Musica?"

Big grey eyes, screwing a hole into his skull. He swallowed. The temperature inside his very body seemed to have dropped dangerously low, and he felt like he was freezing up.

"I'm sorry, Elie." His very voice sounded estrange to him, rough and husky, no way near the usual flirty, teasing tone it usually had. He straightened on the bed. "I can't…"

"What the –"

He had to get away from her. Before he did anything he couldn't forgive himself. "It's not because I don't want to… I just can't." His eyes, asking her understanding, to forgive him. Those grey orbs stared back at him, empty, confused.

"But you –" A hand reached out for him; he stepped back before bare skin could once more collide with his stomach muscles, and caught her hand. "Don't touch me." He sounded colder than he wanted to. But he couldn't change it, unless he wanted to break forever what was already hanging by a silken thread. He'd never wanted to endanger it to begin with, and he really had no clue how it had come to this, but he had endangered it far more than it should be right and legal.

"Musica…" She seemed at a loss of words. For a moment, he could just stare at her, her eyes screwing into his skull, hurt. He hurt, too, seemed to hurt all over. He groaned, passing a hand through his hair. "Listen, Elie, this is complicated… but I can't, I really can't."

She sat up properly, the blanket tossed aside, forgotten. She did a stumbling step on the mattress, over towards him, grabbing for him, for anything -

"Please… just leave me for now, okay? Just leave me alone." He turned, trying to pretend there was at least a shard of modesty left between them.

Her hand collided with his shoulder, and he jumped away.

"Please…"

Until they broke off to stare at each other, they didn't realize they'd said the same word at the very same time.

For a moment, there was nothing but their mutual heartbeats and the clatter of the rain on the windows.

"What the hell is there to understand? You just want to break it off like this? You –"

"Elie, it's not like that. Please, understand. There's still time to preserve modesty and honour –"

"Screw honour," she retorted hotly. "I'm not some wanton slut who sneaks her way out of every encounter shortly before the end –"

"– neither am I, but we aren't strangers like it's usually with sluts, and it's different, Elie. I don't want to hurt you or anything –"

"I know it's going to hurt, but that's with any guy –"

"– and then it shouldn't be me. I don't want to hurt you, Elie, and this is going to hurt –"

"More than I already am?" She stared at him. "What the hell do you know about my pain? You haven't gone through pain as I have! You haven't been there when I've been struck with Sieg-san's damn magic, you haven't been there when I lost my memory, you haven't been there whenever I fought for Plue and myself before, so what the heck do you know about my pain?"

He found out that night that women recovered awfully quickly from orgasms, and that they were awfully insistent when it came to their accomplishments. Or at least Elie was.

And she still didn't seem to get his point.

He also found out that erections had the habit to hurt if they were ignored for too long.

"Elie –"

"You know we've all been through a darn hard time! Don't you dare stand there say to me I can't stand pain! I know very well what it's like! We all had to stand pain before, so don't you –"

He quickly moved aside and caught her fist before it could collide with the wall behind him. "It's just different."

"Don't give me the it's different crap! You – you –"

The rain outside was growing heavier by the minute. By now, it sounded like a hailstorm, hitting the windows, walls and the roof, thousands of tiny grains of ice passing onto Earth.

"Sorry, Elie. Just…"

He saw her figure slack, her muscles loosen, and her fist dropped to her side, defeated.

"Just… leave me alone for now. Okay?"

Before she could form a reply, he disappeared backwards into the bathroom, shutting the door tight behind him. He could almost feel her gaze in his back and was kind of glad she didn't have her guns, or otherwise he would've had to pay not only for the bathroom door, but probably for the whole room's interior and the medication for a few holes in his own body.

"PERVERT! YOU MEN ARE REALLY ALL THE SAME!"

… exactly because of this. And he couldn't even say he didn't know where that came from. He sank against the door weakly, as if drained of all energy.

The law should forbid something like this. Like screwing your friend. Or taking the virginity of the woman one of your closest pals set eyes on. Or… there were no euphemisms for what he nearly had done.

Musica straightened, rubbing his face, groaning. Elie's fluids were still sticking to his fingers. Just his luck. He went over to the sink, trying to scrub his hands in the flow of water from the tap.

He still wondered how they'd ended up like this.

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><p><em>He was quite glad Elie had gone out of ammunition for her guns, or else it would've been somehow harder to calm her down. But as it was, all of them sitting in his room, the rest of the alcohol or lemonade bottles and snack boxes scattered over the table, the shelf and the floor, and people talking all around them (though a lot quieter than before), she seemed to have calmed down a bit. Shuda, whom he'd been talking with before, had gone awfully silent behind the sofa they were sitting on. Elie was leaning against the armrest, sulking.<em>

"_Hey! Elie-chan," Hebi called through the room. "Want something to drink?" A bottle came flying their way, and Elie quickly caught it out of the air before it could crash into Shuda, or the window. "Thanks," she called over._

"_No problem," Hebi called back, winking. Musica looked at Elie, who was staring at the bottle of beer in her hands for a few moments before she reached over to the table and picked up the bottle opener lying there._

"_Hey pal," a hand clapped on his shoulder. He looked up to see Hebi leaning against the shelf, and quickly got to his feet. "What?"_

"_Wanna have a cigarette?"_

"_Not in the mood, thanks. By the way, you better go out onto the balcony if you want to smoke. Remember the last time you nearly burnt a hotel 'cause you forgot to put out your cigarette when you went to sleep?"_

"_Oh. Yeah. That was kinda fun."_

"_Not for the one who has to pay that." Musica leaned against the shelf, his arms crossed. "By the way, I've gotta pay attention to a certain person." He glanced over towards the sofa, where Elie had just taken a sip of her beer and grimaced._

"_If you mix that with lemonade, it'll taste better," he heard Shuda say._

"_Thanks," Elie looked up and grinned. Musica sighed as she grabbed for the lemonade bottle. "I don't really want to imagine what a drunk girl in revenge mode would be like."_

_Hebi sighed. "Normally damn cute. Her guns are the problem."_

"_Yeah…" He trailed off, and Hebi looked over towards the balcony. "Hey, Shuda! Wanna have a cigarette?"_

"_Don't smoke, thanks," Shuda called back, and Hebi once more whirled around, looking through the room, and disappeared with a pout in direction of the balcony when he seemed to spot nobody who looked like he wanted to smoke._

_Musica looked at Elie again, who had mixed lemonade into her beer and was guzzling it down. "Hey, you'll get sick if you drink so fast."_

_She just shrugged. Shuda went around the sofa and threw a glance at Musica. "She's out of it," he murmured, and announced more loudly, "I'm gonna look if I can find Sieg. Wonder where that guy's gone."_

"_Hey, when you're at it, you could look if you can find Haru, too," Let threw in. "I need to have a talk with that guy."_

_Musica noticed Elie shooting Let a glance, but she didn't say anything. Shuda shrugged. "Sure." With that, he was gone, and Musica propped himself down on the sofa again._

"_Hey, everyone, let's have a game of spin the bottle," Rosa shouted._

"_We left the empty bottles downstairs."_

"_Darn…" She sighed, falling back onto the desk she'd been sitting on. Musica leaned back, closed his eyes. Somebody had turned up the volume of the music; it was a song he didn't know, but he was quite thankful for the distraction. The room was cramped with all the people in it, and his head hurt. Suddenly, he wished he had agreed to having that cigarette. He opened his eyelids a crack, glancing at the girl beside him. No, not really safe. Near him, Let and Julia were chatting away. He tried to blend out their voices. How long had it been…?_

"_Hey, Musica, you seem pretty down there. Need a drink?" Go called over, and a moment later a can of beer came flying towards him. He caught it just in time before it could crash into the window behind them. "Thanks," he called, and figuring that it would probably help him relax a little, or at least numb the thoughts crashing into his mind like hurricane waves, he opened the can and took a sip. The bitter liquid burnt his tongue and throat. Geez, travelling around with two perfectly sober teenagers, he'd really forgotten these old habits. If that continued, he'd actually be living a happy life one day. He shook his head, amused at the thought._

_Shuda returned a few minutes later, announcing Sieg was out in the park and not coming up, and that Haru hadn't been found. Let then left to find Haru himself, dragging Julia with him (who hugged everyone of the group before she went after him), and a little while later, Rosa and Go also left. Musica found himself pleasantly numbed by the alcohol. It wasn't enough to get him drunk, not by a long shot, but the thoughts, the bitter tang of reminisce and regret was slowly banned from his mind, and he was kind of glad._

_He looked up to find Elie leaning against the side of the sofa, apparently asleep, or at least her eyes were closed. He felt in his pockets for a cigarette. Nothing. Darn. Where had he left them? His jacket brought to light his keys and a small shard of silver, but no cigarettes either. He looked around for Hebi, who seemed to have left as well._

"_Fuck."_

_Shuda turned down the volume of the music, and looked over. "What's up?"_

"_Bye!" The last few people were leaving the party. Half-heartedly, he lifted a hand. "Seems I lost my cigs," he answered Shuda's question._

"_Hm."_

_A small silence. Musica attempted to get to his feet and was quite shocked when suddenly a warm arm pressed against his own. "Um… Elie?"_

_Shuda chuckled. "She's asleep," he said. "Lucky guy."_

_Elie opened her eyes, unfocused for a moment, before she glared at Shuda. "I haven't been sleeping." She looked around. "Hey, where's the rest?"_

_Musica sweatdropped. "You overslept," he stated. "They've gone."_

"_Yup, it's pretty late." Shuda looked around, apparently trying to find a clock, but didn't find one. "I'm out of here, too. Elie, make sure our Silverclaimer doesn't hook you up."_

"_What for, you pervert?"_

_He still heard Shuda's laugh before the door was shut and the room fell silent._

"_Elie, I'm not sure how late exactly it is, but the party has been going on for pretty long now –"_

"_Where's Haru?" she interrupted him._

"_Uh, sorry?"_

"_You heard me. Where's Haru?"_

"_Not sure… I don't think he came back yet."_

_She fell back with a sigh, leaning against his arm again and slid down until her head rested in his lap. "That perv," she murmured._

"_Uh, Elie, you mind telling me what's up? I mean, you've been pretty out of it lately, and just before… the lounge…"_

"_Yeah," she waved impatiently. "I know, I know, you'll say I overreacted."_

"_That's not what I meant."_

_She sighed, snuggling closer to him. The empty bottle she'd been clutching in her hands rolled down and hit the floor where it broke._

"_Damn," she murmured._

"_We'll just have to clean that later," he remarked. "Mind to tell me what's going on?"_

_She sighed. "Only if you promise me not to tell anyone," she said. He closed his eyes for a moment, holding up his hand. "I promise," he said, felt her sigh. She shifted in his lap, grabbed his hand, looking at his fingers as she took another deep breath._

"_You know that Griff's always spying at me," she finally said._

"_That's not new. Somebody should find out where he gets his spy-glasses from."_

_She chuckled. "Yeah. But not only that. Lately, it's like everyone's ogling me. Making sure I'm 'safe', my arse. Haru's been developing a talent to run into my bathroom whenever I'm having a shower, or the gang's seizing me up when it rains and my shirt's turning transparent, or, so on."_

_Why the hell was she telling him? He wasn't a girl, and heck, he wasn't really good at these things. Sweat broke out over his skin as he tried to think of how he could comfort her._

"_Hey, you're pretty. I know that doesn't justify perversion, but maybe if you try to look at it as a compliment…" A thought crossed his mind, and he stopped dead. "Wait, don't tell me one of those guys went too far."_

_She laughed. "As if they ever would," she said. "The exact opposite. They're ogling me, they're trying to catch glimpses of me when I'm changing, anything, but none of them would ever ask me out."_

_Now he was puzzled. Completely. He saw her reach for a can on the table. "Don't you think you've drunk enough?"_

"_That's slept away," she grinned._

"_So you did sleep, huh." He leaned back his head. The fuzzy feeling the alcohol had caused in his head was already receding, bringing back the pounding headache, in the rhythm of his heartbeat, much too loud for his own good in his ears. Elie was opening the can._

"_Can you believe," her voice once more cracked through his thoughts, "that I have no clue how it feels to be loved?"_

_He had no clue what to say. "I'm sure there's a lot of people who like you." He looked at her again just as she took another gulp of her drink. "Yeah, but not like this," she answered, more decidedly now. "I have a feeling I'll never get a guy at this rate."_

"_Hey, you're only like, sixteen? You have a whole life lying before you." At her stare he added: "Yeah, I know we're fighting, but I also know you're darn strong and can get through almost anything. Even hotel walls, as long as you have your guns. And if you aren't strong enough at any time, you know we're always there to help you out."_

"_I know. But it just doesn't feel right." Her eyes were slightly unfocused now, her voice a tad slower than normally. Shit, she was really getting drunk. He stared at the can she was turning in her hands, round, round, round, and the fuzzy feeling started again in his head. He looked back at her face, silently._

"_Hey, Musica."_

_He jumped as big, grey eyes suddenly focused intently on his. "What?" He literally felt a shudder crawl up his spine._

"_Won't you show me?" She set the can onto the table and straightened, her nose barely inches away from his. He blinked. She was drunk, alright. "Uh… show you what, exactly?"_

"_What it's like to be loved."_

_He could only stare, completely at a loss of what to do. "What?"_

"_Won't you show me?" She was straddling him now, her front pressed up against his._

_Totally drunk._

_He groaned, his head falling forward onto her shoulder. "Elie…"_

"_What?" Her fingers were threading through his hair. He caught her hand. "Stop that."_

"_Sorry." She moved back, trying to focus at his face._

_Before he had any warning, she bent forward and kissed him fully on the lips._

"_Uh, Elie, what are you –"_

_Her tongue darting out, licking over his lips. He bent his head back. "What the hell are you doing?"_

"_Please, Musica… It's just this night, and no one… no one will know…"_

"_Elie, it's –"_

"_It's okay…" She straightened, pulling him up with her, wrapping her arms around his waist, effectively trapping him between herself and the sofa._

_The door flew open with a bang, and Musica fell back onto the couch._

"_Musica! Elie is –"_

_He just caught sight of a small, blue creature before Elie whirled around towards the door, picked up the little guy and squeezed him. "Griffon Katou, if you talk to anybody about what you've seen here, I'll kill you personally. Got that?"_

_Now she remembered the little guy's name? Musica sweatdropped as he watched Elie kick Griff out of the room and close the door before she came back to stand before him._

"_This hasn't changed your mind?" he asked quietly. She just sat down on his knees, kissing him between his eyes._

"_Has it changed yours?"_

"_I wasn't into this from the beginning."_

"_It's just one night," she whispered against his eyebrows, her breath cooling the silver piercings in it. "It's just one night, and nobody will know."_

_Then once more, she was pressed fully against him, sucking his neck, and Musica's head fell back. Yes, he had morals, but he was only human after all, and there was only so far you could tempt a human before self-control splintered and thoughts about right and wrong flew out of the window._

"_But," she whispered against his collarbone, "you can't kiss me, okay?"_

_If this was the line she needed between him and a real lover, so was it. "Okay. But you can't say my name."_

"_We can't say each other's name," she agreed quietly, her breath coming warm and quick against his neck, and as she pulled him up and helped him discard his shirt. Her fingers grazed over the silver bracelet at his wrist, and he flinched. But even that was forgotten as she pushed him back again, her tongue drawing patterns over his neck, her hands roaming his bare chest._

"_That isn't so fair," he muttered, heard her chuckle. "Turn off the light," she murmured.  
><em>

* * *

><p>…<p>

A shower, that was probably what he needed. Musica turned away from the mirror; he couldn't bear to look at himself. Broken, naked, stripped of whatever honour had been left. He had known this was not right. He had known he could never give Elie what she wanted. Yet he'd given in, caused even more misery for the both of them…

He slumped against the tiles, trying to just breathe. It was difficult, although had been harder many times before… at Reina's death, at the time his family was murdered, at… he didn't know anymore.

As the water ran, a thunder resounded through the clatter of hail on the roof, making nearly everybody in the hotel flinch.

Musica stood under the shower head in the spray of cold water, and he didn't move.


End file.
